From sovereign to ghost. This is what happened to Amadeus over the course of a year, in his unfortunate – at least on a television level – experience at Nove.

A bit like those highly coveted footballers in the summer transfer market, who one club tries to sell off to another with millions, but who then get lost once the season has started, perhaps conditioned by a team that doesn’t play as they would like and a climate that isn’t as you expected. Then it happens that in January, in the month of ‘repair’, that team that had invested so much gives him out on loan, without too many demands and without the enthusiasm and ambitions of his origins.

Amadeus is basically experiencing the same movie. He, who in the late spring of 2024 was the most requested, loved and courted TV personality. And with good reason, considering the five consecutive Festivals led to great success. A path, if you think about it, identical to that of Pippo Baudo who in the second half of the nineties, practically at the same age and after as many Sanremos as a protagonist, decided to (re)give in to the courtship of Mediaset. It went terribly and, after a few programs launched and quickly suppressed, it was put aside.

Having started with great fanfare with “Chissà chi è” (clone of “Soliti ignoti” with another name), Amadeus’ project soon crashed with the dramatic reality of a share of less than 3%, while on the other hand his former network kept the ratings of “Affari Tui” with the emerging Stefano De Martino high, indeed very high.

“Auditel is important and I’m aware of it – he confided to “Che tempo che fa” a month after its debut – I knew it would go like this. I have a four-year contract, hundreds of episodes to go. It’s a new journey, in a new channel. It’s right to give it time to break in and convince people.”

History would prove him wrong, since the game closed in December, following a desperate and unsuccessful experiment in prime time. In the meantime, Amadeus approached Mediaset, becoming a juror of “Amici” in the evening version. No more ‘exclusivity’ and a marriage with the Nine which unexpectedly included a third wheel.

The smiles, only partial, arrived with “La Corrida”. Amadeus had the merit of harking back to the spirit of Corrado, creating an understanding with maestro Leonardo De Amicis similar to that which the unforgettable Roman presenter had with Roberto Pregadio. In this case, the ratings went up and, although very far from forecasts, they at least represented a brake on the downward trend. In fact, it is no coincidence that the show dominated by ‘amateurs in jeopardy’ is the only work that generated an encore.

“La Corrida” will restart on Wednesday. The context surrounding the broadcast, however, is one of absolute melancholy. Low profile reigns, with notices limited to a few promos shot here and there. And Fazio, who last year had been Amadeus’ refuge to justify a slow start, this time did not respond. Sebastiani was neither seen nor heard at “Che tempo che fa”. And it sounds rather strange, given that the living room in question is a perfect shelter for launches and advertising. Just think of the attention paid to Rai, celebrated with repeated references to “Dancing with the Stars” and with the guest appearance of Antonella Clerici, who was able to talk at length about “It’s always midday” and “The Voice Senior”.

As for Discovery, however, Fazio recently opened the doors to the protagonists of “Home at First Sight” and, above all, of “Cash or Trash”. In this sense, Roberta Tagliavini openly complained about the location at 7.30pm: “Our hope is 8.30pm, we could do two hours…”. Appeal immediately taken up by Fazio (“of course, let’s hope…”), evidently unaware of Amadeus’ presence at that time with “The cage”. The game in question, in fact, has ended up in anonymity, crushed by the daily struggle between “La Ruota” and “Affari Tuoi”, who together eat 50 percent of the cake.

Amadeus is now the elephant in the room in Nove’s mansion. Visible, very visible and, despite everything, ignored. And often a sign of indifference hurts more than the ferocious news of a failure. It means that the spotlight, for better or for worse, has gone out. And an undisputed talent like Amadeus doesn’t deserve it.